Three-dimensional video presentation of microsurgery by the cross-eyed viewing method using a high-definition video system.

Three-dimensional (3-D) video recording of microsurgery is a more promising tool for presentation and education of microsurgery than conventional two-dimensional video systems, but has not been widely adopted partly because 3-D image processing of previous 3-D video systems is complicated and observers without optical devices cannot visualize the 3-D image. A new technical development for 3-D video presentation of microsurgery is described. Microsurgery is recorded with a microscope equipped with a single high-definition (HD) video camera. This 3-D video system records the right- and left-eye views of the microscope simultaneously as single HD data with the use of a 3-D camera adapter: the right- and left-eye views of the microscope are displayed separately on the right and left sides, respectively. The operation video is then edited with video editing software so that the right-eye view is displayed on the left side and left-eye view is displayed on the right side. Consequently, a 3-D video of microsurgery can be created by viewing the edited video by the cross-eyed stereogram viewing method without optical devices. The 3-D microsurgical video provides a more accurate view, especially with regard to depth, and a better understanding of microsurgical anatomy. Although several issues are yet to be addressed, this 3-D video system is a useful method of recording and presenting microsurgery for 3-D viewing with currently available equipment, without optical devices.